Old-style wooden water tanks hang tough

NEW YORK - They are part of New York's skyline and millions of people unknowingly depend on them: Behold, the venerable rooftop water tank, made of plain old wood.

And forget about technology and innovation and all that. The tanks are more popular than ever in this city of skyscrapers.

Here, any building higher than six stories must be fitted to pump water to the roof for the higher floors, where it is stored in a tank. That's because the pressure in the city water system is too weak to get it up there. Gravity takes over for it to flow back downward.